ANYTIME
by ochaleaf
Summary: One lonely night, Sakura unexpectedly finds herself at a certain someone’s apartment. [Slight SasuSaku, and NaruSaku Friendship]


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Author's Note:** Mmm… I decided to try my luck at a one-shot. No pairings unfortunately…  Just some pointless fluff I wrote while I was bored.

**Summary:** One lonely night, Sakura unexpectedly finds herself at a certain someone's apartment. [Slight SasuSaku, and NaruSaku *Friendship*]

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**Anytime **

By: Hisaki Shiraha Kei

"Two weeks?"

"Aa."

Sakura bit her lip and pouted. Sasuke watched in mild amusement as her eyes traveled from the pair of crutches leaning against the wall to the calendar on her bedside table and back to meet his eyes.

"Gomen… If I didn't have this injury I probably could have come with you…"

"Stubborn one, I would have made you stay home and rest anyway. You just came back from your mission, for Kami's sake."

"But still…"

"Shhh… Get your rest now."

Pale pink locks flew about as she shook her head. 

"I wanna stay up a little longer with you… I won't be seeing you for two whole weeks… I'll miss you…"

Sasuke's mouth curved into a small smile, a smile he let out only when he was with her. Reaching out, he pulled her body to his in a tight hug. Pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, he whispered, "As will I." A pause. "But I'll be thinking of you, so don't worry."

Satisfied with that answer, the pink haired kunoichi gave a little yawn and was soon asleep.

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Sakura groaned and switched the television off. Too lazy to pick up her crutches, she hopped to the kitchen on her right leg to deposit an empty ramen cup into the garbage bin. 

'If I watch another rerun, I swear I'll go mad!'

Journeying back to the couch on one leg, she made a brief stop at an open window. Propping her elbows on the windowsill and resting her chin on her palms, she breathed in a sigh of relief as a gentle night breeze caressed her pale face. 

'The stars are nice tonight…'

Closing her eyes, she imagined a pair of strong hands wrapping themselves around her waist and a dark head resting itself on her shoulder. Then, a low, husky voice would whisper in her ear and he would start making a pathway down her neck with his tongue…

'Iya! Stop it! He'll be back in a week's time… that's not so… very… *gulp* long…'

She groaned. 

'That's it. I have to go out. Staying alone in here is driving me mad…'

Mentally bopping herself, she shook her head and hopped over to the couch, grabbed her coat and crutches and headed out the door. 

Once outside, her feet (foot?) responded as if they were on auto mode. As she made her way down the street, she mentally recited where her steps were taking her.

'Straight… turn left… ah, there's that familiar mulberry bush… turn right over here… keep going straight until I see a blue-roofed house, aha, there it is… okay… now I make another right… take four steps and then turn over there… take another four steps, row of apartments… take elevator up to the sixth floor… door opens… seven steps to the right… turn left… room 626… and I'm here…'

She blinked. 

'How'd I wind up here?'

Blinking another couple of times, she cocked her head to the side as she stared at the red door in front of her. A door she had not once visited for the past six months. A sharp pang of guilt rapped at her chest.

'Naruto's apartment…'

A wistful sigh escaped her lips as she traced a finger over a small dent in the door. It was the apartment she had shared with Naruto for three years during their earlier Jounin days before Sasuke had returned. Just looking at it gave her reminded her of all the fun they had, all the secrets they'd shared, and most of all, the company of one another… 

Before she moved out to stay with Sasuke after they'd gotten together. 

Unable to control herself any longer, she whipped out a key from her bunch of house keys and unlocked the door. 

Stepping into the apartment, she fought to bite back a giggle. It was exactly the way she had left it. The only few pieces of furniture that they'd owned which were a two-seat couch, a small coffee table and the television were still there, in the exact same order. Clothes were strewn all over the place; boxers of all sorts of colours and designs on the coffee table, trousers and t-shirts on the couch, a few jumpers on the TV… 

'Yup. Typical Naruto.'

Letting go and giggling in the way that she only ever dared to when she was alone, Sakura visited the kitchen next. She let out a small laugh when she saw everything spic and span, with only four huge garbage bags stuffed fully with what seemed like hundreds of ramen cups. Picking up a stray cup in the sink and forcing it into one of the already full-to-the-brim bags, she smiled and said, "It's good to see he's experimenting on some other flavour instead of miso all the time."

Depositing her crutches in a corner, she took off the thick jumper she was wearing and folded it neatly before putting it on the couch. Clad in only a tank top and a pair of khaki shorts, she set to work on cleaning up his small living room.

"That baka. I'm going to give it to him when he comes back," she mused aloud.

"I suppose I was expecting that from you."

"Eh?"

Squeaking, she spun around to see an amused Naruto leaning against the doorframe. 

"Naruto!" 

The tall blonde boy grinned cheekily and stepped inside, dirtying the carpet with bits of mud and dirt from his sandals. He took out his orange jacket and clumsily threw it on the television with the other jumpers. 

"What a great welcome home party! It would have been better if you'd prepared some ramen too, but this isn't half bad…"

He ducked as she threw a pair of trousers at him.

"Baka!"

He chuckled as she hopped over to him and jumped on him with enough force to send them both tumbling over next to the coffee table. He flipped her over so that she wouldn't be the one landing on the floor. She wrinkled her nose as she noticed his shirt was torn and dirty. 

"Eww! Go take a shower! I'll have something ready when you come out."

"Won't argue to that."

Standing up, he helped her to her feet and marched off to the bathroom. Sakura smiled as she went to the kitchen and took out two cups of instant ramen. She retraced her steps back to the living room where she started to pick up all his clothes from the furniture and dumped them into a laundry basket while she waited for the water to boil. 

Twenty minutes later, Naruto emerged from the bathroom, feeling very much cleaner than he had in days. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of boxers with little frogs imprinted on them and a towel around his shoulders. Plopping down on a chair across his pink haired best friend, he grabbed a cup of steaming hot ramen and immediately took a gulp of soup without flinching.

"Ahhh! That was good."

Sakura snorted and continued sipping hers and when she was sure it was safe enough to eat, took a bite of the ramen. They ate in silence, neither of them wanting to say anything as they merely enjoyed the company of each other. It took Sakura a few minutes before she noticed that he had not finished his ramen and had actually fallen asleep with his chin propped on his right hand. 

Smiling softly, she rose and disposed of her empty cup and hopped behind him. Taking the towel carefully off his shoulders, she started to tenderly wipe his still-dripping hair. A soft murmured, "Arigatou…" made her smile even wider and she pinched his ear, signaling that she was done. Drowsy blue eyes opened and he thanked her again. Finishing his now-cold ramen, he went back to the living room with her. 

As they sat down on the couch, he noticed her injury for the first time. His eyes darkened as he pulled her onto his lap. 

"What happened?" he asked as he stroked her hair softly. Leaning back onto his chest, she casually shrugged. "Nothing really. Typical clumsy me."

Silence enveloped the two friends once again. This time however, they were too caught up in their own thoughts to notice it. Their thoughts were somewhat the same, both thinking about how long it had been since they had been like this. 

Naruto hugged her slender body close to his and murmured, "I missed you."

"Gomen," came the reply accompanied by a regretful smile. "So did I."

"I wonder what Sasuke would do if he saw us like this…" mused her blonde friend aloud. He couldn't help but smile softly when he heard her reply, "Well he doesn't need to know." 

Sakura closed her eyelids halfway and shifted herself into a more comfortable position on his chest. 

"…Naruto?"

"Mm?"

"Gomen, for disturbing you. You must be really tired now…"

He twitched.

"Baka," he teased as he poked her, "You know you can come here anytime."

_Anytime you want. I'll always be here for you._

Smiling, she nodded her head. "Arigatou."

They stayed like that for a little while more before Naruto finally realized that she had fallen asleep. Carefully standing up, he cradled her in his arms and was about to go to his bedroom when he heard a soft knock on the door. Frowning, he deposited her on the couch and went to see who it possibly was, visiting at this late hour. 

"Yo."

Onyx eyes met with sea blue and both males smirked at the same time.

"Sasuke. Wasn't expecting you back so fast."

The other just shrugged, "Mission ended earlier than expected, so I thought I'd come home instead of stay there."

_Bullshit, you were worried about her, weren't you?_

"Ahh, gomen, how rude of me… Come on in."

"Thanks, but I just came to collect something of mine that found her way to your house."

There was no hint of jealousy or anger in that statement, just a high amount of understanding. Naruto smiled at his best friend, and still-rival. 

Nodding, Sasuke made his way to the couch and gently lifted his fiancée into his arms. She squirmed a bit in his embrace and muttered, "Naruto…" His eyes darkened at first, but then softened when he realized Naruto would never do anything to break them apart. He was a loyal friend, and was there for them whenever they needed him to be there. He would never admit it, but Sasuke valued Naruto's friendship a lot. Not that he would ever tell him that, of course. 

Turning to leave, Sasuke glanced at his companion who had just finished yawning. 

"I guess I'll be going now. Sorry for bothering you so late."

"S'kay. Anytime."

Both boys exchanged a parting smirk, and Sasuke walked out of the apartment, his precious bundle held securely in his arms. 

_Sou__… Anytime._

Author's Second Note: Well? XD How was that for my first one-shot? Review and tell me what you think of it please!!! I've never written a one-shot before and I'd love to hear how my first one turned out like!!! Although I myself think that it really is rather pointless… *Cries* T_T


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